On Their Buses

The Trekset Story

John Deveson will never forget his first school group tour in the late 1970s: the company that employed him as a bus driver had forgotten to book most of the hotels and meals were not organised. Despite the chaos, Deveson loved the trip. He had been working as a suburban bus driver and the chance to leave the suburbs for the wide-open road was appealing. He says: “It’s like having a first love, it will always be special.”

Deveson also saw the potential for a business that offered a better-quality service. He says: “Treat the students like number one. They are tourists, not second-class citizens.”

In 1979, with no experience in retail travel, Deveson opened a travel agency in the Melbourne suburb of St Albans. “I opened the door, sat at my desk and waited for the business to come in.” Six months later he was broke. “I lost it all and still had a two-year lease to pay out. It was a disaster.” But he did learn lessons: he needed a clear business focus and to get out and sell.

He borrowed some money from his dad and tried again, deciding to concentrate solely on educational tours. In 1982, he moved away from the shopping strip and into an office complex in Essendon and Trekset Tours began. After a slow start, business boomed. “In the first three years of business, we organised twelve tours; last year we did 600.”

Deveson knew that the educational tours business can be fickle: many drivers would take a group away for a coach operator, establish a relationship with the school and then try to do all the school’s future tours. Deveson needed to ensure that when Trekset got a school group, it kept them forever.

In 1982, he visited a small coach operator. “His office was a little caravan in the coach yard; we sat down and made a deal.” Trekset promised to use Myrtleford Coaches if it would promise not to deal directly with any school. That agreement still stands and has been used with five other coach companies. The coach companies have guaranteed business; Deveson has guaranteed suppliers who will not become competitors.

During the severe recession of the early 1990s, travel businesses around Australia were failing. But Trekset blossomed. Why? Deveson says: “The main asset of every family is the children. The family holiday has been cancelled but when your kid comes home and asks to go away on a school trip - well, you can’t say ‘No’ to your kids.” Trekset also benefited from the high interest rates at that time: because travel clients pay in advance for their tours, Trekset earned high interest on the money it held until it was time to pay its suppliers. Deveson says: “We drove through the recession in a Rolls Royce.”

Deveson says he has made some unwise business decisions. In 1995, Trekset made a short-lived foray into the travel market for people aged 18-35. “I did the one thing you should never do - copy something someone else was doing.” He was trying to compete with Contiki Holidays but they had a huge head start. He quit the business - and learnt more important lessons.

To cope with the stress of running the business, Deveson spends time on his farm with his family and stays away from the office on weekends. This year, for the first time, he is taking a five-week overseas holiday with his family. After years spent selling the educational value of travel to others, he figures it is about time he learnt a few of those lessons for himself.

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